I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4253 

To establish a grant program to help State and local law enforcement agencies 

reduce the risk of injury and death relating to the wandering characteristics of some children with autism and other disabilities. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 15, 2015 

Mr. HASTINGS (for himself, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. 

GRIJALVA, Mr. MURPHY of Florida, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, and Mr. 

VAN HOLLEN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To establish a grant program to help State and local law 

enforcement agencies reduce the risk of injury and death 

relating to the wandering characteristics of some children 

with autism and other disabilities. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Avonte’s Law Act of 

5 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM TO REDUCE INJURY AND DEATH 

2 RELATING TO THE WANDERING AND SAFETY 

3 OF INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES. 

4 Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 

5 Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3711 et seq.) is amended 

6 by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘PART LL—GRANT PROGRAM TO REDUCE IN8 JURY AND DEATH RELATING TO THE WAN9 DERING AND SAFETY OF INDIVIDUALS WITH 

10 DISABILITIES 

11 ‘‘SEC. 3021. PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 

12 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may make 

13 grants to law enforcement agencies to— 

14 ‘‘(1) reduce the risk of injury and death relat15 ing to the wandering characteristics of some individ16 uals with autism and other disabilities; and 

17 ‘‘(2) safeguard the well-being of individuals 

18 with disabilities during interactions with law enforce19 ment. 

20 ‘‘(b) USES OF FUNDS.—A grant awarded under this 

21 section shall be— 

22 ‘‘(1) distributed directly to a law enforcement 

23 agency; and 

24 ‘‘(2) used to— 


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1 ‘‘(A) provide education and resources to 

2 law enforcement agencies, first responders, 

3 schools, clinicians, and the public in order to— 

4 ‘‘(i) reduce the risk of wandering by 

5 individuals with autism or other disabil6 ities; 

7 ‘‘(ii) help to identify signs of abuse in 

8 individuals with autism or other disabil9 ities; 

10 ‘‘(iii) increase personal safety and sur11 vival skills for individuals with autism or 

12 other disabilities; and 

13 ‘‘(iv) facilitate effective communica14 tion with individuals who have communica15 tion-related disabilities, including the use 

16 of assistive communication techniques and 

17 technology; 

18 ‘‘(B) provide training and emergency pro19 tocols for school administrators, staff, and fam20 ilies; 

21 ‘‘(C) provide response tools and training 

22 for law enforcement and search-and-rescue 

23 agencies, including— 

24 ‘‘(i) tracking technology; 

25 ‘‘(ii) reverse 911 technology; 


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1 ‘‘(iii) assistive communication tech2 nology; 

3 ‘‘(iv) Endangered Missing Advisories; 

4 and 

5 ‘‘(v) Federal search-and-rescue guide6 lines for special needs children; or 

7 ‘‘(D) provide response tools and training to 

8 law enforcement agencies in order to recognize 

9 and respond to individuals with intellectual and 

10 developmental disabilities. 

11 ‘‘(c) STANDARDS AND BEST PRACTICES FOR USE OF

12 TRACKING DEVICES.— 

13 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 120 

15 days after the date of enactment of this part, 

16 the Attorney General, in consultation with the 

17 Secretary of Health and Human Services and 

18 leading research, advocacy, self-advocacy, and 

19 service organizations, shall establish standards 

20 and best practices relating to the use of track21 ing technology to monitor children with autism 

22 and other disabilities. 

23 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—In establishing the 

24 standards and best practices required under 

25 subparagraph (A), the Attorney General— 


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1 ‘‘(i) shall determine— 

2 ‘‘(I) the criteria used to deter3 mine which individuals would benefit 

4 from the use of a tracking device; and 

5 ‘‘(II) who should have direct ac6 cess to the tracking system; and 

7 ‘‘(ii) may establish standards and best 

8 practices the Attorney General determines 

9 are necessary to the administration of a 

10 tracking system, including procedures in 

11 order to— 

12 ‘‘(I) safeguard the privacy of the 

13 data used by the tracking device such 

14 that— 

15 ‘‘(aa) access to the data is 

16 restricted to agencies determined 

17 necessary by the Attorney Gen18 eral; and 

19 ‘‘(bb) use of the data is sole20 ly for the purpose of preventing 

21 injury or death; 

22 ‘‘(II) develop criteria to deter23 mine whether use of the tracking de24 vice is the least restrictive alternative 

25 in order to prevent risk of injury or 


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1 death prior to issuing the tracking de2 vice, including the previous consider3 ation of less restrictive alternatives; 

4 ‘‘(III) provide training for law 

5 enforcement agencies to recognize 

6 signs of abuse in their interactions 

7 with applicants; 

8 ‘‘(IV) protect the civil rights and 

9 liberties of children with disabilities 

10 who use tracking devices, including 

11 their rights under the Fourth Amend12 ment of the Constitution of the 

13 United States; 

14 ‘‘(V) establish a complaint and 

15 investigation process to address— 

16 ‘‘(aa) incidents of non17 compliance by grant recipients 

18 with the best practices estab19 lished by the Attorney General or 

20 other applicable law; and 

21 ‘‘(bb) use of a tracking de22 vice over the objection of a child 

23 with a disability; and 

24 ‘‘(VI) the role which State agen25 cies responsible for providing services 


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1 to children with developmental disabil2 ities and State agencies responsible 

3 for child protective services should 

4 have in the administration of a track5 ing system. 

6 ‘‘(2) REQUIRED COMPLIANCE.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each law enforcement 

8 agency that receives a grant under this section 

9 shall comply with any standards and best prac10 tices relating to the use of tracking devices as 

11 established by the Attorney General under 

12 paragraph (1), in consultation with the Sec13 retary of Health and Human Services and lead14 ing research, advocacy, self-advocacy, and serv15 ice organizations. 

16 ‘‘(B) DETERMINATION OF COMPLIANCE.— 

17 The Attorney General, in consultation with the 

18 Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall 

19 determine whether a law enforcement agency 

20 that receives a grant under this section acts in 

21 compliance with the requirement described in 

22 paragraph (1). 

23 ‘‘(3) APPLICABILITY OF STANDARDS AND BEST

24 PRACTICES.—The standards and best practices es25 tablished by the Attorney General under paragraph 


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1 (1) shall apply only to the grant program authorized 

2 under this part. 

3 ‘‘SEC. 3022. APPLICATIONS. 

4 ‘‘To request a grant under section 3021, the head 

5 of a law enforcement agency shall submit an application 

6 to the Attorney General in such form and containing such 

7 information as the Attorney General may reasonably re8 quire. 

9 ‘‘SEC. 3023. DEFINITIONS. 

10 ‘‘In this part— 

11 ‘‘(1) the term ‘child’ means an individual who 

12 is less than 18 years of age; 

13 ‘‘(2) the term ‘Indian tribe’ has the same mean14 ing as in section 4(e) of the Indian Self-Determina15 tion and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 

16 450b(e)); 

17 ‘‘(3) the term ‘law enforcement agency’ means 

18 an agency of a State, unit of local government, or 

19 Indian tribe that is authorized by law or by a gov20 ernment agency to engage in or supervise the pre21 vention, detection, investigation, or prosecution of 

22 any violation of criminal law; 

23 ‘‘(4) the term ‘State’ means each of the 50 

24 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 

25 of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, 


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1 American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Mariana 

2 Islands; and 

3 ‘‘(5) the term ‘unit of local government’ means 

4 a county, municipality, town, township, village, par5 ish, borough, or other unit of general government 

6 below the State level. 

7 ‘‘SEC. 3024. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

8 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

9 this part $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2016 

10 through 2020.’’. 

Æ 


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